A pretty penny. President Obama said Tuesday night it would cost $30 billion this fiscal year -- or about $1 million per soldier -- to send 30,000 additional troops there. That's a low estimate, budget experts say, but let's run with it for the moment. An extra $30 billion in Afghanistan means that in 2010 alone, US military spending in Afghanistan will equal nearly half of total spending on the war since 2001, according to Travis Sharp, military policy analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington. The troop increase will cost $2.5 billion per month, $82 million per day, $3.4 million per hour, $57,000 per minute, and $951 per second.

It's a direct tax on Americans: about $195 for each taxpayer next year.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Even after wars wind down, charges continue to accrue.